Koivu overcome by fans' outpouring

MONTREAL – Even as he spent this week doing numerous interviews and preparing himself mentally for Saturday night, Ducks center Saku Koivu was still overcome with the reaction he received from the Bell Centre faithful.

A sellout crowd of 21,273 showed its appreciation for the 13 seasons he spent as the face of the Montreal Canadiens by giving him a lengthy standing ovation before the Ducks' 4-3 shootout victory in his first game back at the arena.

It didn't approach the thunderous eight-minute ovation he received in 2002 when he returned to the ice after his lengthy battle with non-Hodgins' lymphoma, but Koivu didn't want that.

After he raised his stick in the air several times and pointed to his heart to return the love thrown his way, Koivu moved toward the faceoff circle to get the game going.

"It was a emotional enough to get ready and wait for this game, but then the reaction that I got again from the fans, there's not really words that describe the feeling that I had out there. And then again after the game.

"A great night. It's going to be a memory that's going to go with me for the rest of my life."

The Ducks allowed their respected veteran to receive the adulation alone. The other Ducks starters skated over to their bench and stood with their teammates. On the other bench, the Canadiens were on the feet, too, tapping their sticks on the boards while the crowd cheered.

Ducks forward Bobby Ryan said he could see that Koivu was nervous.

"I talked to him on the ice this morning and he said he was a little bit more (nervous) than the general game," Ryan said. "I don't know how many games he's played here but I think that's acceptable.

"To come out and receive that ovation right off the bat, it's probably bigger than he wanted to be. But he deserves it for sure."

Koivu wasn't happy about his three-penalty night, including a tripping minor that put his team on a two-man disadvantage in the final 1:15 of regulation and ultimately led to Max Pacioretty's tying goal with 12.6 seconds left.

Koivu said the game "was probably one of the toughest games to go through" and that "I'm relieved and I'm happy that it's done." But the fans still voted him as the game's second star and he came back out for another ovation.

"They've showed their support so often and so many times," Koivu said. "It kind of felt that it was time to kind of leave and get the first star out there. I somehow kind of wanted to show how much I appreciated and respect the fans here and give them the thank you that they deserve."

GOOD EFFORT

The Ducks survived a rough final few minutes of regulation, but they clearly played their best game of this trip, and their willingness to block shots powered the effort.

They blocked 26 shots in all, with Andreas Lilja having a team-leading six while fellow defensemen Toni Lydman and Andy Sutton had four and three, respectively. There appears to be a correlation between the number of shots blocked and the number of victories.

"I would like to think so," Lilja said. "Everybody is trying to contribute the way they can. If that means you're going to block shots or you're going to score goals, you're got to do your job. Part of my job is to block shots and that's what I try and do."

Center Kyle Chipchura and defenseman Paul Mara were scratched and didn't play against their former team. Chipchura was with Montreal for 21/2 seasons while Mara played with the Canadiens last season. ... Maxim Lapierre played 14 minutes and recorded four hits in his game since Montreal traded him on Dec. 31.

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